Tree Nut Allergies

by Shereen Jegtvig

If you look at the list of allergens on our FoodEssentials tool, you’ll see tree nuts on the list.  So which nuts are tree nuts?  Peanuts are not on the list because they don’t grow on trees (actually they’re members of the legume family).  Common tree nuts include almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, chestnuts, filberts (or hazelnuts), macademia nuts, pecan, pine nuts, pistachios and walnuts.  Less common tree nuts include beechnuts, ginkgo, shea nuts, butternuts, and lychee nuts.  Coconuts are also consided as tree nuts and must be labels that way, however coconut allergies appear to be very rare.

What if you are allergic to any tree nuts?  You’ll have to avoid them, and it isn’t always as easy as staying way from cans of nuts.  You might find them hiding as ingredients in other foods like cereals, cookies, crackers, candy, snacks and desserts.  Although allergies involve reactions to the proteins found in the nuts, there may be traces of the proteins in oils made from the nuts, so if you are allergic to tree nuts, you’ll need to avoid the oils too. 

Nut flavorings like almond extract or hazelnut extract may also contain traces of the proteins and will need to be avoided as well, although artificial nut flavorings should be fine because they are not made from actual tree nuts.  If you’re very sensitive to tree nuts, you’ll also need to be careful if you go to restaurants where the tree nuts are served; traces of tree nuts can lurk in your foods due to cross-contamination.

Typically, tree nut allergies are lifelong.  Less than 10% of children with tree nut allergies outgrow them.  A person who is allergic to one type of tree nut may not be allergic to all other tree numbers, but there is a great chance of cross reactivity between different families of nuts.  It’s difficult to figure out, so if you know you are allergic to one type of tree nut, your doctor probably told you to avoid all tree nuts.

What about cross reactivity with peanuts?  Since peanuts aren’t technically nuts, they aren’t really related, however people with tree nut allergies are more likely than other people to also be allergic to peanuts.

The FDA requires food manufacturers to state which nuts are present on any foods that may contain them.  Unfortunately, food manufacturers do not have to disclose the possibility of cross-contamination when tree nuts are used in other parts of the manufacturing facilities.

Our FoodEssentials tool will help you sort out which foods that may contain tree nuts.  For example, if you check out bars and cakes containing tree nuts, you find this:

Those top few brands may or may not contain tree nuts, but you know the rest of the snack on the list do not.

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